


This Isn't A Rule Of The Con

by AndreaLyn



Category: Hustle
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 06:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/pseuds/AndreaLyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back when June first introduced Ash to Albert, he had a theory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Isn't A Rule Of The Con

The second thing she tells him after they walk into the bar is, “everyone knows Albie.” As for the first, it happens to be a, “If you’re just a cop in hiding, best to tell us now.” Ash has never met anyone like June before and he thanks his lucky stars twicefold. Once for not rendering him dead in that bar brawl (or that stint in prison) and twice for meeting her while he was there.  
  
She’d taught him a couple of easy cons and showed him the flop, letting him at it and praising him for being a natural. He dazzles her with his knowledge of electrical systems he picked up working a fair or two and they work a couple of elaborate short cons together.   
  
It’s after they break five grand that she decides to introduce him about to the ‘family’.   
  
And that means Albie.   
  
He’s been teaching a young conman, she says. Smart as anything and bound to be a legend one day. Albert is the one who buys them all drinks when they sit down that night for dinner and the first topic of conversation goes from amiable to awkward in a matter of seconds.  
  
“Has June told you my theory?”  
  
“Which is that?” Ash asks, leaning over the table to pry the ashtray closer to him so he can smoke freely.   
  
Albert smiles a roguish smile, the sort Ash imagines people fall for all the time (both to give him money and to give him their hearts). He flicks a hand in the air and taps his finger on the table twice, never once taking his eyes off of Ash. June is grinning away like the pixie-like creature she is and Ash knows that he’s never felt more at home in his life.  
  
“Grifters do not just swindle away deserved money from bad apples. They can also make anyone in the world want them, no matter what walk of life they are. At least,” Albert corrects, tapping his nose as he reclines in the booth. “The good ones can.” For a man that can’t be more than forty, he seems to have this down pat and Ash glances to the side to verify this with June -- that she and he genuinely believe this.  
  
A nod of assent is all he needs.  
  
“You tested this theory?”  
  
“Oh my, yes!” Albert laughs and it’s not just goodness and kindness in his tone. There’s the story of a dozen marks if you listen close enough. He leans in over the table, meeting Ash halfway. “And now you’re curious if it works, I can see.” It seems Albert is getting ever-closer by each progressing minute and his eyes roam over the craggy handsome features of Ash’s face. “And let me promise you, Ashley Morgan. I  _am_  the best there is at this.”  
  
“Come on, love,” June coaxes and Ash doesn’t even realize he’s being encouraged to his feet until he’s halfway out the door and one of Albert’s hands is on his back and there’s the promise of greatness in front of him.   
  
What’s rule one again, Ash struggles to think when that hand on his back slides lower and he’s stopped caring whether it’s June or Albert’s hand.  
  
 _You can’t cheat an honest man._  
  
Ash has never been honest, truth be told. Cheat, cheat away.   
  
*  
  
“Well?”  
  
Ash flips the card over and gives Sean his patented cool stare, glancing over at Albie – who is minding his own business in the best manner that nonchalance can offer. Their shoulders are touching and Sean’s attention is rapt between them. Emma is off with Mickey at the bar getting a round of drinks.  
  
Ash flips the cards over, playing a quick round of blackjack. Albie’s not allowed to play. Albie always cheats and Ash knows better.  
  
“Well, what?” Ash bluntly states.  
  
“You’re pulling my leg. That never happened, did it?”  
  
Albie and Ash exchange a long look, neither of them looking one way or the other in a manner that neither confirms nor denies and while Sean’s looking rapidly between the two of them, Emma and Mickey return.   
  
“They didn’t have a threesome with Ash’s ex, did they?” Sean demands of Mickey, fingers pointing every which way as he tries to get a straight answer out of a band of honest grifters -- which was a bit like calling them dishonest straight men. “Come on. Ash and Albie and June? That’s got to be one of those myths…” Sean is now scoffing and stumbling to find some kind of sense. “…right?”  
  
Mickey exchanges that same look that tells nothing with Ash.   
  
“So we shouldn’t tell him about the time with you, me, and Stacie,” Mickey deadpans in Ash’s direction.   
  
Ash flicks his cigarette in the tray at the side of the table. “Honestly, Mick, if you really want, you can tell him about the time with Eddie and the donkey for all I care.”  
  
That pointed finger of Sean’s returns to Ash and he smiles knowingly and ruefully. “See? See! I knew you were just pulling my leg. I knew it. But come on,” he protests with a wounded tone. “Haven’t we gotten past the point where you initiate me? Honestly! It’s been six months, aren’t I a part of the crew yet…?”  
  
Sean’s arguments fade into the background.  
  
Just out of the corner of his eye, Ash catches Albert looking at him as he takes a long drag of his cigarette and in the space between moments they share a smile and a secret, not saying a word and letting that moment live in the past. They’re good grifters, after all. They can make anyone in the world believe anything.  
  
Right now, the only thing they want anyone to believe is that it could be true, it could be a myth, but no matter what, it’s a bloody great story.  
  
“Now, come on,” Mickey corrals them when things begin to get out of hand as Emma starts to shout out various objects that they could use as props in some convoluted sexual fivesome. “Let’s get back to the job at hand.”  
  
There’s one more look between Albert and Ash and the moment fades like the smoke dissipating from Ash’s cigarette.   
  
Some things are best left behind you.  
  
And some things are best left immortalized.  
  
THE END


End file.
